New aircraft plant in Kissimmee to produce 2-seater plane

The FX1's engine is mounted above the cockpit. If the plane… (ItalicoAviationUSA )

December 4, 2012|By David Breen, Orlando Sentinel

An Italian aircraft company plans to open a plant at Kissimmee Gateway Airport to produce a new two-seater plane, the city announced Tuesday.

ItalicoAviationUSA — a U.S. spinoff of Italy-based EuroALA — is expected to bring 22 jobs to the area to start, growing to 55 jobs within four years. The jobs will pay an average of $61,000 a year, which is about double the typical wage in the area, according to the city.

Renovation of a building at the airport is expected to begin in January, with manufacturing starting three to four months later. The company is investing $3.2 million.

The company was offered a package of state and local incentives worth about $842,000, including a property-tax exemption.

Kissimmee Mayor Jim Swan said the company would help address a nagging problem for the area: how to increase the median wage.

The new plane, dubbed the FX1, will be produced exclusively in Kissimmee. The two-seat propeller plane, classified as a light sport aircraft, runs on standard gasoline rather than aviation fuel and is less expensive and less time-consuming to maintain than other aircraft, CEO Eros Spinozzi said. Prices start at $98,000.

For now the Kissimmee facility will produce just one model, but plans are in the works for a four-seater and an electric plane. EuroALA has been producing ultralight aircraft since the early 1990s.

The area's good flying weather, its central location between Canada and South America and regular influx of visitors who could become customers were key selling points.

Spinozzi said the company plans to produce about 500 planes a year in Kissimmee. The company hopes the plane will be used in roles such as surveillance and agricultural spraying, and Spinozzi wants to lure new people into aviation.

"We want to sell to anybody who has not thought to buy a plane before," he said.